I. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of communications and, more particularly, the present invention relate to methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for making telephone calls.
II. Background of the Invention
Various applications (including Web-based applications, software applications, hardware applications, services, etc.) may allow a user to make a telephone call from a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephone to another PSTN telephone using an Internet Protocol (IP) network. However, these applications are typically limited in several ways. For example, some applications may be limited to placing calls from an enterprise to a customer (or a potential customer) of the enterprise and effectively serve simply as an equivalent to a toll-free number called by the (potential) customer. Other applications may be adapted to connect any two telephones, but can not bill the call directly to either telephone. Instead, the call may be billed to a credit card or some other account held by the caller, called party (receiver), or other party.
Some applications may use “softswitch” technology to handle most of the switching in the IP network and use IP_PSTN gateways to extend each leg of a call to the PSTN telephones. In such cases, the IP network may act as an interexchange carrier (IXC) and, therefore, preclude the use of a customer's preferred IXC.
These limitations and others restrict the use of these applications and make them inconvenient for customers or subscribers. Prior applications also consume significantly more network resources than a call made directly from the caller to the receiver. In view of these drawbacks, it would be beneficial to provide for an IP-stimulated initiation of a PSTN-to-PSTN call that can be billed directly to a subscriber's PSTN telephone and that can consume minimal network resources.